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Thanks Jennifer, outstanding video, I tried a cheddar cheese cultured with clabber and it turn out to be the best cheese I ever made. This trial was inspired from your video on the Gouda cultured with clabber, thanks for sharing your knowledge!
@@jmilkslingerCan you tell me how long cultured raw milk +raw cultured cream =raw cultured sour cream, right? How long can I keep in the frig after I made it on the counter?
@@CC-lv1ox Clabber-cultured cream, or sour cream, is fabulous but, because there's no salt in it, it has a shorter shelf-life than store-bought sour cream. Mine usually lasts a full week. The good news is, once it starts going funky, it's still good in coffee cake and such.
I’ve always had to use non chilled raw milk/ I’ve noticed that chilled raw milk makes it taste and smell off! Straight from the teet is best in my experience
Another great video! Wondering if you could make videos of things you can make with the skimmed cream. You mentioned in a previous video of all the things you make with it. Thank you
I usually make butter or ice cream from the cream I skim from the milk (and I have several videos on how to do that on the channel), or else I add the cream into a cheese, to boost the fat content, like with the Fat Cow cheese. I'm always wishing I had more cream!
Hey Jennifer. This clabber thing opens up a whole new world to me! Now that I’ve made some - with your help and encouragement - I would like to use it to make a sourdough starter! Have you done that? I’m sure you already have a good sourdough starter but I bet one made with clabber would be even better! Would you do a video about it? Thank you. 😊 ❤
I've never done that, or heard about it, until last night when I did some research! I actually couldn't find much information. Do you have a good resource? I'm curious now...
Ok... I don't have a cow, I buy my raw milk from a local. Don't know how he cleans the teats? So, my request would be... would you do a video on just how to make a clabber, "1" way, the "best" way you found and how to use it as your culture for the cheese you used it for. Many thanks... Love your stuff!
Thanks for this. I've tried using kefir as a starter with mixed results. A couple of cheeses were definitely chicken food, but yesterday opened a really yummy Gouda and a tasty Derby. I need to get past my hesitation and just do it. How warm is your kitchen? We heat with wood and the kitchen is farthest from the woods stove. So, unless I'm actively cooking, the kitchen is pretty cool. Like low 60s. Wondering if that's too chilly..... Ahhhh.... analysis paralysis
We also heat with wood and our kitchen is pretty cool --- around 68 and 70 during the day, but dropping to upper 50s overnight. I thought the cool temps might have been the reason some of my clabbers had trouble, so I experimented with keeping them on the hearth behind the wood stove (and prewarming the jars with some warm water), but that didn't seem to do anything, and now I have a fantastic, long-term clabber going and it lives in a cool spot on the kitchen counter. Once we hit high summer, I expect some curveballs, but for now everything seems stable and healthy.
We do iodine. I am allergic to the other stuff. I don't see it interfering with clabbee making. I made clabber before knowing what it was. If the cats didn't drink all the milj in their bowl it turned to clabber
My first clabber set up nice and thick. The subsequent feedings haven’t been as thick. Is that normal? I’ve been using cold raw milk. Maybe it could be shaking?
Great video. One question: so, once you have the first clabber set, you have to transfer a spoonful to another jar, add milk, and let set to clabber every day to keep fresh clabber? Also, side note, my step-mother used to take a big pot of milk and let it clabber - then she would slowly - low heat cook the clabber to make cottage cheese. Have you tried this?
Watched it again. So I am wasting ALOT of milk trying to do half gallons at a time until I get the clabber strong like a sour dough starter? Does it lose that funky smell/taste over time?
This stuff is a new thing for me. I have a bottle of raw milk unopened in the freezer that has been expired for 5 months. When I defrost it, the smell still good, but seperated. Is it safe if i make the clabber from it? How do i know this turned into clabber or it turned into sth bad that i should discard it? Thank you.
Wow! 👏 Bravo! I will try this in the future! I have a question or two though...u said to use up clabbered milk as buttermilk. Are they interchangeable? I can use them both for pancakes, muffins and so on? Do u think they are same for the cheese? Because i made a culture with buttermilk and it's consistency is that of a clabbered milk. It smells good but are these two similar at all? I made the culture by warming milk to 140 f then cooling it then adding 1/2cup buttermilk to 3 cups milk, leaving it on the counter to "spoil" and done! It can be used in the first 7 days, not sure if it can be used after that....
Yes, you can use clabber in place of buttermilk in baking and salad dressings! For cheesemaking, I've been using clabber to culture ALL my cheeses, and I've used cultured buttermilk (from the store) to culture mesophilic cheeses. I've never made my own cultured buttermilk, though, so unfortunately I can't speak to those details and all the variations that go with it. (My hunch says that they ARE similar, but I haven't tried it myself so I don't want to say for sure...)
@@jmilkslinger I'm pretty certain that clabber IS cultured buttermilk. My dairy farmer grandparents separated their milk and poured the cream into a large can that was kept at room temperature, adding to it every day, and mixing after each addition with a metal plunger that had holes in it. The wonderful fresh, acid buttery scent that it gave off is still in my memory 60 years later. The skim milk was poured into a 200 litre drum every day, and of course this was clabber on a grand pig-sized scale. Buckets of thick clabber were poured into their troughs. They made butter twice a week from this cultured cream. The liquid left over is thin, not like cultured buttermilk. Many years ago, whole milk would be allowed to clabber, and then all of it would be churned for butter. The liquid remaining would then contain all the milk solids apart from the butterfat, and this was the original thick cultured buttermilk. Purchased buttermilk culture presumably contains very purified cultures, whereas raw clabber still has whatever cultures exist naturally inside your own cow. So there may be a little variation.
I want to try to use clabber for the first time.. I get my milk from a nearby farm. Can I use the same gallon of milk to feed each day for a week or do you have to have fresh milk everyday? thanks
@@jmilkslinger I mean it turns into curds and way. There is very little cream as I pull that off. 3 days. Once it separates it is my understanding it will not go back together
@@melissa81213 No, that's perfect! Take a teaspoon of that and put it in a fresh jar, add about 1/2 cup of milk, and set it out on the counter. It should firm up (or separate into curds and whey --- but try to catch it right before it separates, if possible) in about 24-48 hours. Repeat the process. Each time, it should take less time --- it's getting stronger. Eventually you'll fall into a rhythm of setting up and starting a fresh jar every 24 hours or so --- longer if you're in a cool climate and shorter if you're in a warmer climate.
Hi Jennifer, I have just started cheese making (Camembert), and I am fascinated by the results! And I love your videos, your recipes and your encouraging and humorous style! But I have a question about the milk; here in Germany it is recommended to heat the raw milk before consumption to kill germs. From my point of view, however, this kills many things in raw milk that are healthy and flavourful in cheese. Do you heat your milk before use?
I never heat my milk before use. (Except for when I make yogurt, which is a different process.) As long as you have a good milk source, heating the milk is unnecessary and, you're right, it kills off the good bacteria.
New to milking, so also new to making things with the raw milk. Before I dive into cheese, we really like yogurt. Thought that might be a bit easier, not. My clabber never seems to come out right. It separates, creamy on top, liquid on bottom. Milk straight from cow (filtered) to a squatty jar, covering with a coffee filter (rubberband around), kitchen is about 70F. Yesterday morning was still milk. This morning, creamy top, liquid bottom. Wish I could share a pic. What am I doing wrong! Please help!
my milk after being in the fridge for 3 weeks, is now smelling bad. Did it go bad? Isn't the way to make clabber to let it sit at room temp but I left it in the fridge. Can someone let me know ???
We buy raw milk from a local farmer. I had some raw milk this week turn and get a fishy smell after only a few days. First time this happened. We fed the septic with it. Is it a sanitation issue? What is the best way to keep jars, lids, and a 3 gallon stainless steel milk cannister sanitized properly?
Cleaned milk jars (and containers) should be washed with hot water and soap and then air dried and stored with the lids ajar, NOT screwed on tight. Without good airflow, the jars and lids will develop odors. Maybe that's the problem?
@@jmilkslinger So hot soapy water is adequate? It could be part of the problem. With milk in them should there still be airflow? Thanks so much for your input.
@@vickyannpaintingwithoils NO air flow with regular milk in jars. Seal those babies up tight. (When keeping a clabber culture, though, you DO need air flow.)
Hi Jennifer I have tray make clabber and am on the fifth day the milk is separated in half on top and the other half on the bottom what should i do it smell nice and buttery thanks in advance
If it has separated, it's gone too far. It's still good, but it's not at peak strength. Shake it up and use it to feed a fresh batch of milk. Just keep going --- you're on the right track!
Before I found this video, I used the first round of clabber to make raw milk yogurt. It's incubating now so I don't know how it will be. Should I not have used this first-round clabber? If so, could this yogurt be considered a second round and used for a new batch?
If i bring home cold fresh milk from a farmer, can i still set it out, or will the fact that it has been refrigerated for several hours prevent it from working?
I have not worked with goats milk. You might want to check out the Biegel Family's UA-cam channel --- they make tons of cheese from their herd of goats. . . Here's their cheddar recipe: ua-cam.com/video/6pzMmqyYtRw/v-deo.html
You mean it's only been two days since you set raw milk out on the counter and it's already separated? If that's what you mean, then you're on the right track. You need to use some of that to feed fresh milk. Once you've cycled through 4-6 times, then the clabber will be strong enough to use to culture milk for cheese. (If the clabber separates, it means it sat out too long --- you want to catch it when it first sets up because it's freshest and strongest then.)
Hi dear! Do you think that clabber can be used to make a spreadable goat cheese and achieve the characteristic acidity of this cheese? Goat milk would be pasteurized. I need help please :(
I have a question. I am new to making clabber and I'm using goat milk. I allowed it to sit originally for 3 days and then have been feeding it into fresh milk each morning since then. It is 9 days old altogether. Every time I smell it it smells great (sweet w/ slight Tangy smell), but it is still separating into curds and whey. Each time though it does seem to be having less whey. To my understanding it is supposed to look like yours and not have any separation right? So I cannot currently use it for something. Should I keep feeding a new jar of milk each day with this clabber or does it mean that there is something wrong with it and I should start over completely? I have nobody around me who is interested of this and is knowledgeable of it, so I would greatly appreciate any advice.❤️
I haven't worked with goat milk, but it sounds like it may be culturing too quickly. Try reducing the amount of clabber you use to feed the new batch of milk --- clabber the size of a lentil to 1 pint of milk, maybe --- and see if that slows the process. Other than that, it sounds like you're on the right track!
@@jmilkslinger perhaps that is what I'm doing wrong. I'm putting like a couple of tablespoons into a quart of fresh warm milk😂. Will it still be clabbering within 24 hours doing that? Or should I wait longer until I get a thick yogurt look? Most of it is so thick and yogurt like it's sad to keep dumping it to the pig in the chickens.
@@jmilkslinger ok, thank you. Hopefully that will fix it. It's only safe to consume once it is completely a yogurt texture without any whey pockets at all... correct?
@@mariaguigar6276 As long as it smells okay, you can drink it. The separation of whey is only a sign that it's over-acidified. As long as it's sat for an excessive amount of time, it's fine to use.
When I make clabber, it gets funky smelling and tastes like feet. I have tried taking the clabber from one batch and putting it in a new batch to try to cut the funky foot smell/taste, but it is still very much there. I want to make cheese with it, but it is already so pungent, that I am thinking it will just be a waste of ingredients trying to turn it to cheese. Do I need to start over? If I start over and it still has that same funk, what can I do to keep it from developing while it is sitting on the counter? Does it need to “breathe” while it clabbers? I have been putting an air tight lid on it.
If it smells funky/bad, don't use it. Is it bubbly? Because if so, that's a sign it's gone too far. If it stinks, it's a sign of some sort of contamination. I have had some clabber get strong or smell slightly "off" but then the next batch smells delicious. In those cases, I assume the jar I used wasn't perfectly clean and use a little of it to feed a new batch, as per usual. If the clabber returns to its normal, sweet self within one or two new feedings, it's fine, but if it remains stinky, then something more pervasive is off and it's time to start over.
No, because yogurt requires different cultures than clabber. However, I've read that you CAN make a clabber cheese by draining clabber as you would drain yogurt to make yogurt cheese...
Hi Jennifer, I just found your amazing channel. Thank you so much for taking us on your raw milk cheese journey. I have a question, can you use already soured raw milk? It has been refrigerated for two weeks! How old is to old? Thank you.
Thank you. You mentioned in your Ricotta Pancake video that you make your own syrup. I can't find it on your web-site. Can you please share it? Thanks again.@@jmilkslinger
@@debbiethompson1008 (My recipe index is kinda a mess --- sorry! )The "official name" is Brown Sugar Syrup. Here you go! jennifermurch.com/2009/10/for-party-pancakes/
It kinda stinks, yes, but the stink is different from the smell of pasteurized milk gone bad. THAT smell is putrid. This smell is just a funky yuck. Sometimes it smells a bit sharp. Other times it's a deeper, more pungent "off" smell. I have had raw milk never set up into a clabber and had to start over. My recommendation: stick with it and feed it once it sets, even if it doesn't smell great. It may improve over time. . . or not. Either way, you're gonna learn something.
Hey Jennifer. I’m ready to make cheese except I can’t get my milk to clabber. I’ve tried three times now and it keeps getting orange goo on the top and smelling bad. Please help. I started with a pint each time. Good thing! I had to throw them out. 😢
Hey Patricia! I had a bugger of a time starting my clabber this season (after Emma calved). I tried multiple batches and they either never thickened, or they started smelling off. It finally worked, but I'm not sure why, so I'll just give you a run-down of the things I thought about/tried... *Scour the jar and lid each time, even if you think it's already clean. *Move the milk to a warm place (I set mine behind the woodstove). *Make sure the lid isn't screwed on tight. *Use the freshest milk possible. *Once it's thickened, even if it smells/looks not quite right, use it to start a new batch anyway (just label the jar). Sometimes the bad stuff works its way out and over time turns sweet and buttery. (I kept a couple batches going at the same time...) *Only use a half cup of milk (half of a half pint) while establishing a clabber. There's no need to use more, and a small amount helps prevent frustration when it goes awry. *If using milk from your own cow, wait a week or two, or try milk from another source. Even though Emma was giving wonderful milk and I was making cheese with it, I wondered if Emma's bacterial count was wonky or something after giving birth (so unscientific, I know!) *Put the set, but not smelling great, clabber in the fridge and smell it 24 hours later. Does it still smell off? I've noticed that "not great" clabber sometimes smells divine after a rest in the fridge. Not sure what that's about, though.... Good luck!
You’re the most wonderful mentor! Thank you for answering! And thank you for the encouraging answer you gave. I’ll try your suggestions! And I’m still hopeful now. 😁😍
I made a clabber but it seems to have wholes throughout it. I did have the cap loose the didnt fkr a day and it clabbered when i didnt have it loose. I took some and made another, it has wholes. Is that a yeast bubble or something else?
Could be contanination or yeast, but it could also be that the milk is clabbering too quickly. Dial back the amount that you are feeding it (1 part of clabber to 50 parts of milk) and see if that works better? It could also be that your ambient temp is too warm so it's clabbering too quickly....
@@sophiazuta3196 It's thinner than yogurt, but lots of people like to drink clabber. Or you could strain it in a bag to make it thicker. The flavor is quite different from yogurt though.
This is great, thanks. Totally new to this and started my first clabber the other day. 72 hours later, it's definitely close, but not quite there - it smells good, kind of buttery, but one thing that makes me nervous is that I see these circular areas forming on the surface of the milk. It doesn't look discolored, maybe just beginning of the separation of curds and whey? It's still somewhat liquidy and not quite set. Do you think this is an issue? Also, does it absolutely have to fully set? I was trying to look closely at your clabber and it seems like it's the consistency of a custard. Does it always happen like that, or do you ever have clabbers that stay slightly more liquidy? I just don't want to mess up and miss the window of opportunity to pop some of that into another jar of milk and get it going.
My clabber usually sets fully, though sometimes it is a little looser, and that's been fine --- it just might take a little longer for the next batch to set up. Don't worry too much about the clabber going over. As you continue to feed the next number of batches, it will get stronger and begin to clabber more quickly. Over time, any beginning wonkiness should work its way out. But, if you want to be on the safe side, you can always start a second clabber now! If you have two going simultaneously, then you can compare them against each other and use the one that seems the sweetest/strongest... Good luck!!
Thanks so much for your reply!! These are good tips in general, and I will definitely save this info, but now I am worried because after looking at it closely, I see a small yellow spot forming and I can't tell if it's mold... May have to toss the whole thing and start all over again, probably with a different source of raw milk since I'm now questioning this source :( @@jmilkslinger
No. But if you culture cream with clabber and then make butter, I think that might work --- you'd get cultured butter... (You can make cheese from clabbered milk, though. Google it.)
Yogurt is for thermophilic (higher temp cheeses); clabber can culture both meso and thermo cheeses. Both work very well, but I prefer clabber because it's straight cultured milk --- no additives --- which I think is pretty cool. ☺
@@jmilkslinger Jennifer, I tried to make clabber. I kept the Raw Milk in the jar at room temperature (19C) for 3 days. But it didn't harden like yogurt. It remained liquid. Then I found raw milk from another source. But same result. What could be the reason for this? Winter season?
@@elmeddinxelil9621 It could be the cool temps, yes, but it also might take longer --- sometimes it takes 5 days for my milk to develop its first set....
I'm not sure! I have the same problem --- I mean, I make cheese fairly often, but sometimes I don't make it for a couple weeks in a row. I know some people refrigerate it and then feed it to get it started again, but when I did that, my clabber never smelled as sweet and buttery. I'm going away this weekend, so I'm going to take some clabber along to maintain the daily feedings AND I'm going to pop some in the fridge and then try to get it going again when I get home. (I know this doesn't answer your question about freezing it, though...)
Hmmm. How does it smell. Could it be that you're shaking the milk extra hard in the beginning and getting some air bubbles? What's the ambient temp? Have you tried using it for cheese, and if so, did it work?
I wonder if i can make clabber from store bought raw milk...i guess i could try to find someone with goats here in Oakland that have straight, fresh milk for sale. Sounds like a mission 😊
I got a quart of "grass milk" that apparently iodine is used in the milking process. I had to brush my teeth. I had the worst taste of iodine in my mouth.
You have to start clabber with raw milk, but you can maintain it with storebought. . . or at least this is what I've been told. I haven't tried clabber with storebought milk myself.
@@mrsginny If clabber goes too far, it separates into curd and whey. You want to catch it at its strongest point which is when it is solid but BEFORE it separates. (You can use separated clabber to ferment a new batch of milk -- within a couple generations it should regain its equilibrium -- but not to culture a batch of cheese.)
@jmilkslinger ok, I'm not trying to make cheese, just trying to apply my sour raw milk into my current recipes to use it up. So far I've used the separated cream for sour cream and planning on using the liquid in biscuits and pancakes
This is definitely not A Beginner's Tutorial. You lost me completely about 3 min. in, when you started using terms that were not defined, then "recapped" processes you forgot to film--huh?! Again, as a beginner, interested in learning to make clabber, I have absolutely no idea what to do other than set raw milk aside.
Oh, I hear you! I felt soooo overwhelmed when I started making cheese! It was like learning a whole new language. I was totally lost, but I just stuck with it, taking notes, watching videos, reading and reading and reading, experimenting, and eventually the strange words turned into meaningful concepts. I know this doesn't "solve" anything for you, but I hope it helps to normalize your feelings a little....
That’s all you do. You set milk aside. There is a lot to know but first you set the milk aside. It will clabber if your jar is clean and the good bacteria take over any bad that gets in.
As someone looking to make clabber, I wish this video had actually been informative. I had no idea what you were doing. You were doing steps without saying what you were doing, assuming we would know. You didn't explain or demonstrate removing the clotted cream, I had to assume you were putting a dollop of clabber in a new jar and topping it with pasteurized (?) milk, you didn't talk about sterilizing jars, etc. For me it was just a slap dash slick video for entertainment only.
Honestly not sure how youre confused but I see that the ingredient list has a price and thats annoying so what it is: you start out with raw unpasteurized milk. Depending how much you want, ut could be less or more as u have to feed just a tablespoon to make the clabber. Let the fresh milk thicken up on the counter (takes 3-4 business days) After it thickens, youre gonna use 1 tablespoon of the thickened milk to a jar of your preference to a full jar of milk and shake it up or stir. Cover it (Dont screw the cap too much, allow airflow) and in 24 hours (or one business day) clabber is ready. As for sterializing the jar, your typical sterializing of food equipment works (hot water and soap)
@@marko-182 so after the 3 days it now has the bacteria needed to clabber. The feeding phases (the addition of milk) is kinda like a cooking phase to make it edible and for a better consistency.
For the inside scoop on recipe development, cheese news, and all my cheese-related angst, sign up for Splashed!, the weekly Milkslinger newsletter: milkslinger.com/ See you there!
Thanks Jennifer, outstanding video, I tried a cheddar cheese cultured with clabber and it turn out to be the best cheese I ever made.
This trial was inspired from your video on the Gouda cultured with clabber, thanks for sharing your knowledge!
Oh, this makes me so happy --- go, you!
@@jmilkslingerCan you tell me how long cultured raw milk +raw cultured cream =raw cultured sour cream, right? How long can I keep in the frig after I made it on the counter?
@@CC-lv1ox Clabber-cultured cream, or sour cream, is fabulous but, because there's no salt in it, it has a shorter shelf-life than store-bought sour cream. Mine usually lasts a full week. The good news is, once it starts going funky, it's still good in coffee cake and such.
Okay, I don't really have a comment beyond "great video". I just wanted to add a comment to help feed the algorithm.
Thanks for watching!
Looks so good! My grandma used to make clabber and one way we used it was to spoon it over fried potatoes😋
Just learning about clabber. Thank you for sharing 🙏🙏🙏
Lots of great information and easy to follow instructions. Love the video!
I’ve always had to use non chilled raw milk/ I’ve noticed that chilled raw milk makes it taste and smell off! Straight from the teet is best in my experience
Thumbs up . . . Thanking you . . . ❤💖❤
Thank you thank you thank you!!!!!
Another great video! Wondering if you could make videos of things you can make with the skimmed cream. You mentioned in a previous video of all the things you make with it. Thank you
I usually make butter or ice cream from the cream I skim from the milk (and I have several videos on how to do that on the channel), or else I add the cream into a cheese, to boost the fat content, like with the Fat Cow cheese. I'm always wishing I had more cream!
I think I can do this if I can do sourdough starter. ❤
Absolutely!
Hey Jennifer. This clabber thing opens up a whole new world to me! Now that I’ve made some - with your help and encouragement - I would like to use it to make a sourdough starter! Have you done that? I’m sure you already have a good sourdough starter but I bet one made with clabber would be even better! Would you do a video about it? Thank you. 😊 ❤
I've never done that, or heard about it, until last night when I did some research! I actually couldn't find much information. Do you have a good resource? I'm curious now...
very helpfull in tutorial how to make kinds of cheese, tq 😊
Thank you! Awesome information 💞
Looks good
Ok... I don't have a cow, I buy my raw milk from a local. Don't know how he cleans the teats? So, my request would be... would you do a video on just how to make a clabber, "1" way, the "best" way you found and how to use it as your culture for the cheese you used it for. Many thanks... Love your stuff!
Noted --- thank you!
@@jmilkslingerpls can I use it for yogurt as well.
Thanks for this. I've tried using kefir as a starter with mixed results. A couple of cheeses were definitely chicken food, but yesterday opened a really yummy Gouda and a tasty Derby. I need to get past my hesitation and just do it. How warm is your kitchen? We heat with wood and the kitchen is farthest from the woods stove. So, unless I'm actively cooking, the kitchen is pretty cool. Like low 60s. Wondering if that's too chilly..... Ahhhh.... analysis paralysis
We also heat with wood and our kitchen is pretty cool --- around 68 and 70 during the day, but dropping to upper 50s overnight.
I thought the cool temps might have been the reason some of my clabbers had trouble, so I experimented with keeping them on the hearth behind the wood stove (and prewarming the jars with some warm water), but that didn't seem to do anything, and now I have a fantastic, long-term clabber going and it lives in a cool spot on the kitchen counter. Once we hit high summer, I expect some curveballs, but for now everything seems stable and healthy.
We do iodine. I am allergic to the other stuff. I don't see it interfering with clabbee making. I made clabber before knowing what it was. If the cats didn't drink all the milj in their bowl it turned to clabber
My first clabber set up nice and thick. The subsequent feedings haven’t been as thick. Is that normal? I’ve been using cold raw milk. Maybe it could be shaking?
Does it need more time to set? In cooler temps it could take longer than 24 hours. (I doubt it's the brief shaking at the start.)
Jennifer , have you ever used kefir as culture? What do you know about it?
Yes, and while it worked, it also gave all my cheeses a kefir flavor, which I didn't like. Some people love it though!
Thank you Jeniffer ❤
Great video. One question: so, once you have the first clabber set, you have to transfer a spoonful to another jar, add milk, and let set to clabber every day to keep fresh clabber? Also, side note, my step-mother used to take a big pot of milk and let it clabber - then she would slowly - low heat cook the clabber to make cottage cheese. Have you tried this?
1. Yep!
2. I have not tried making cottage cheese that way, but I know people do that.
@@jmilkslingerpls do I have to heat my raw milk to 110 before I use it for clabber. Am new at yogurt making.
@@sophiazuta3196 Nope!
Nice. ❤
Watched it again. So I am wasting ALOT of milk trying to do half gallons at a time until I get the clabber strong like a sour dough starter? Does it lose that funky smell/taste over time?
It shouldn't smell funky. Mine smells like buttery sour cream.
This stuff is a new thing for me. I have a bottle of raw milk unopened in the freezer that has been expired for 5 months. When I defrost it, the smell still good, but seperated. Is it safe if i make the clabber from it? How do i know this turned into clabber or it turned into sth bad that i should discard it? Thank you.
No, I wouldn't use it to start a clabber --- too many things could go wrong.
Wow! 👏 Bravo! I will try this in the future! I have a question or two though...u said to use up clabbered milk as buttermilk. Are they interchangeable? I can use them both for pancakes, muffins and so on? Do u think they are same for the cheese? Because i made a culture with buttermilk and it's consistency is that of a clabbered milk. It smells good but are these two similar at all? I made the culture by warming milk to 140 f then cooling it then adding 1/2cup buttermilk to 3 cups milk, leaving it on the counter to "spoil" and done! It can be used in the first 7 days, not sure if it can be used after that....
Yes, you can use clabber in place of buttermilk in baking and salad dressings!
For cheesemaking, I've been using clabber to culture ALL my cheeses, and I've used cultured buttermilk (from the store) to culture mesophilic cheeses. I've never made my own cultured buttermilk, though, so unfortunately I can't speak to those details and all the variations that go with it. (My hunch says that they ARE similar, but I haven't tried it myself so I don't want to say for sure...)
@@jmilkslinger
I'm pretty certain that clabber IS cultured buttermilk.
My dairy farmer grandparents separated their milk and poured the cream into a large can that was kept at room temperature, adding to it every day, and mixing after each addition with a metal plunger that had holes in it. The wonderful fresh, acid buttery scent that it gave off is still in my memory 60 years later.
The skim milk was poured into a 200 litre drum every day, and of course this was clabber on a grand pig-sized scale. Buckets of thick clabber were poured into their troughs.
They made butter twice a week from this cultured cream.
The liquid left over is thin, not like cultured buttermilk.
Many years ago, whole milk would be allowed to clabber, and then all of it would be churned for butter.
The liquid remaining would then contain all the milk solids apart from the butterfat, and this was the original thick cultured buttermilk.
Purchased buttermilk culture presumably contains very purified cultures, whereas raw clabber still has whatever cultures exist naturally inside your own cow. So there may be a little variation.
I want to try to use clabber for the first time.. I get my milk from a nearby farm. Can I use the same gallon of milk to feed each day for a week or do you have to have fresh milk everyday? thanks
You can use the same gallon of milk.
@@jmilkslinger Thank you and thank you for all the advice and help you have given me. I really appreciate it..
I’ve tried to clabber my raw milk but it keeps separating and not becoming solid and jiggly. Suggestions?
By separating, do you mean the cream rises to the top? How many days have you waited?
@@jmilkslinger I mean it turns into curds and way. There is very little cream as I pull that off. 3 days. Once it separates it is my understanding it will not go back together
@@melissa81213 No, that's perfect! Take a teaspoon of that and put it in a fresh jar, add about 1/2 cup of milk, and set it out on the counter. It should firm up (or separate into curds and whey --- but try to catch it right before it separates, if possible) in about 24-48 hours. Repeat the process. Each time, it should take less time --- it's getting stronger. Eventually you'll fall into a rhythm of setting up and starting a fresh jar every 24 hours or so --- longer if you're in a cool climate and shorter if you're in a warmer climate.
@@jmilkslinger great! Thank you. I will let you know how it goes
Hi Jennifer, I have just started cheese making (Camembert), and I am fascinated by the results! And I love your videos, your recipes and your encouraging and humorous style!
But I have a question about the milk; here in Germany it is recommended to heat the raw milk before consumption to kill germs. From my point of view, however, this kills many things in raw milk that are healthy and flavourful in cheese. Do you heat your milk before use?
I never heat my milk before use. (Except for when I make yogurt, which is a different process.) As long as you have a good milk source, heating the milk is unnecessary and, you're right, it kills off the good bacteria.
New to milking, so also new to making things with the raw milk. Before I dive into cheese, we really like yogurt. Thought that might be a bit easier, not. My clabber never seems to come out right.
It separates, creamy on top, liquid on bottom. Milk straight from cow (filtered) to a squatty jar, covering with a coffee filter (rubberband around), kitchen is about 70F. Yesterday morning was still milk. This morning, creamy top, liquid bottom. Wish I could share a pic.
What am I doing wrong! Please help!
I'd say just keep it going and maybe it will even out in several generations?
This first video I watched showed the clabber separated.
ua-cam.com/video/ouRz0LIqbso/v-deo.htmlsi=ijWjec7jQodXieIi
My clabber keeps growing kahm yeast , any ideas?
Not sure, but maybe ferment the clabber at 68°F or below? Make sure you use a fresh jar/lid each time? Set it in a different spot?
my milk after being in the fridge for 3 weeks, is now smelling bad. Did it go bad? Isn't the way to make clabber to let it sit at room temp but I left it in the fridge. Can someone let me know ???
Yes, it's bad. Clabber is raw milk that's left out at room temperature to culture. (Milk left in the fridge too long is rotted milk)
thank you so much for the quick answer.... i knew something was up when i drank it and felt weird
We buy raw milk from a local farmer. I had some raw milk this week turn and get a fishy smell after only a few days. First time this happened. We fed the septic with it. Is it a sanitation issue? What is the best way to keep jars, lids, and a 3 gallon stainless steel milk cannister sanitized properly?
Cleaned milk jars (and containers) should be washed with hot water and soap and then air dried and stored with the lids ajar, NOT screwed on tight. Without good airflow, the jars and lids will develop odors. Maybe that's the problem?
@@jmilkslinger So hot soapy water is adequate? It could be part of the problem. With milk in them should there still be airflow? Thanks so much for your input.
@@vickyannpaintingwithoils NO air flow with regular milk in jars. Seal those babies up tight. (When keeping a clabber culture, though, you DO need air flow.)
@@jmilkslinger Thank you so much! :)
@@jmilkslingerFYI you were 100% correct. Changed my air drying handling of my jars and my milk was perfect fresh all week. You are ❤🎉
Can this be made with sheep's milk, or does it have to come from a cow?
I've never tried that. Google it?
My first attempt at clabber smelled bad..like baby spit up. What did I do wrong?
The first batch does smell pretty funky. Keep feeding it and in a few days the smell should have much improved.
Do you think raw milk that has been frozen would still work?
Probably not to start it, but to keep it going? I don't see why not!
Jennifer do you not tighten the lid of the jar when making clabber?
Nope! It must have some air flow.
@@jmilkslinger thanks mate, appreciate your input 💯❤️
Hi Jennifer I have tray make clabber and am on the fifth day the milk is separated in half on top and the other half on the bottom what should i do it smell nice and buttery thanks in advance
If it has separated, it's gone too far. It's still good, but it's not at peak strength. Shake it up and use it to feed a fresh batch of milk. Just keep going --- you're on the right track!
@@jmilkslinger thanks for all your help❤
Before I found this video, I used the first round of clabber to make raw milk yogurt. It's incubating now so I don't know how it will be. Should I not have used this first-round clabber? If so, could this yogurt be considered a second round and used for a new batch?
Yeah, usually it's not ready to use until about the 5th generation. How did it turn out?
@@jmilkslinger made some great chicken food🤪 😂😂
@@juliejohnston2408 Oh dear... It happens!
If i bring home cold fresh milk from a farmer, can i still set it out, or will the fact that it has been refrigerated for several hours prevent it from working?
Refrigerated raw milk is fine to use as a starter!
Hello. Enjoyed the video. Have you clabbered goats milk? Is the technique the same? Also will it work f it has been refrigerated?
I have not worked with goats milk. You might want to check out the Biegel Family's UA-cam channel --- they make tons of cheese from their herd of goats. . . Here's their cheddar recipe: ua-cam.com/video/6pzMmqyYtRw/v-deo.html
Will do thank you.
What if my clabber separated in the jar...it's only 2 days old. Can I still use it for cottage cheese?!
You mean it's only been two days since you set raw milk out on the counter and it's already separated? If that's what you mean, then you're on the right track. You need to use some of that to feed fresh milk. Once you've cycled through 4-6 times, then the clabber will be strong enough to use to culture milk for cheese. (If the clabber separates, it means it sat out too long --- you want to catch it when it first sets up because it's freshest and strongest then.)
@@jmilkslinger Thank you!
So I left my fresh raw cows milk in the fridge too long. Is that now clabber. It didn’t stay on the counter it stayed in the fridge?
No, I don't think so. Spoiled milk is not the same as clabber.
Hi dear! Do you think that clabber can be used to make a spreadable goat cheese and achieve the characteristic acidity of this cheese? Goat milk would be pasteurized. I need help please :(
I haven't worked with goat milk, but yes, I think clabber would certainly work in that situation!
I have a question. I am new to making clabber and I'm using goat milk. I allowed it to sit originally for 3 days and then have been feeding it into fresh milk each morning since then. It is 9 days old altogether. Every time I smell it it smells great (sweet w/ slight Tangy smell), but it is still separating into curds and whey. Each time though it does seem to be having less whey. To my understanding it is supposed to look like yours and not have any separation right? So I cannot currently use it for something. Should I keep feeding a new jar of milk each day with this clabber or does it mean that there is something wrong with it and I should start over completely? I have nobody around me who is interested of this and is knowledgeable of it, so I would greatly appreciate any advice.❤️
I haven't worked with goat milk, but it sounds like it may be culturing too quickly. Try reducing the amount of clabber you use to feed the new batch of milk --- clabber the size of a lentil to 1 pint of milk, maybe --- and see if that slows the process. Other than that, it sounds like you're on the right track!
@@jmilkslinger perhaps that is what I'm doing wrong. I'm putting like a couple of tablespoons into a quart of fresh warm milk😂. Will it still be clabbering within 24 hours doing that? Or should I wait longer until I get a thick yogurt look? Most of it is so thick and yogurt like it's sad to keep dumping it to the pig in the chickens.
@@mariaguigar6276 Yes, every 24 hours.
@@jmilkslinger ok, thank you. Hopefully that will fix it. It's only safe to consume once it is completely a yogurt texture without any whey pockets at all... correct?
@@mariaguigar6276 As long as it smells okay, you can drink it. The separation of whey is only a sign that it's over-acidified. As long as it's sat for an excessive amount of time, it's fine to use.
When I make clabber, it gets funky smelling and tastes like feet. I have tried taking the clabber from one batch and putting it in a new batch to try to cut the funky foot smell/taste, but it is still very much there. I want to make cheese with it, but it is already so pungent, that I am thinking it will just be a waste of ingredients trying to turn it to cheese. Do I need to start over? If I start over and it still has that same funk, what can I do to keep it from developing while it is sitting on the counter? Does it need to “breathe” while it clabbers? I have been putting an air tight lid on it.
If it smells funky/bad, don't use it.
Is it bubbly? Because if so, that's a sign it's gone too far. If it stinks, it's a sign of some sort of contamination.
I have had some clabber get strong or smell slightly "off" but then the next batch smells delicious. In those cases, I assume the jar I used wasn't perfectly clean and use a little of it to feed a new batch, as per usual. If the clabber returns to its normal, sweet self within one or two new feedings, it's fine, but if it remains stinky, then something more pervasive is off and it's time to start over.
Have you used clabber to make yougurt. How much should i use per Liter of milk. Danielle South Africa
No, because yogurt requires different cultures than clabber. However, I've read that you CAN make a clabber cheese by draining clabber as you would drain yogurt to make yogurt cheese...
Hi Jennifer, I just found your amazing channel. Thank you so much for taking us on your raw milk cheese journey. I have a question, can you use already soured raw milk? It has been refrigerated for two weeks! How old is to old? Thank you.
Soured milk is different from clabber: you need fresh raw milk for starting a clabber. Good luck!
Thank you. You mentioned in your Ricotta Pancake video that you make your own syrup. I can't find it on your web-site. Can you please share it? Thanks again.@@jmilkslinger
@@debbiethompson1008 (My recipe index is kinda a mess --- sorry! )The "official name" is Brown Sugar Syrup. Here you go! jennifermurch.com/2009/10/for-party-pancakes/
What is the smell as it’s clabbering the first time? Mine kinda stinks and I’m on day 3
It kinda stinks, yes, but the stink is different from the smell of pasteurized milk gone bad. THAT smell is putrid. This smell is just a funky yuck. Sometimes it smells a bit sharp. Other times it's a deeper, more pungent "off" smell. I have had raw milk never set up into a clabber and had to start over. My recommendation: stick with it and feed it once it sets, even if it doesn't smell great. It may improve over time. . . or not. Either way, you're gonna learn something.
I don't have access to raw milk. Can I use pasteurized milk to make a clabber culture. I am very new to cheese making.
Welcome to the wonderful world of cheesemaking!
You can use pasteurized milk to maintain a clabber, but you need raw milk to start it.
Does the jar need to be sealed (cut off from oxygen?)
Nope! I only partially screw on the lid. You could also cover the top with a piece of cheese cloth.
@@jmilkslinger thank you God bless
Hey Jennifer. I’m ready to make cheese except I can’t get my milk to clabber. I’ve tried three times now and it keeps getting orange goo on the top and smelling bad. Please help. I started with a pint each time. Good thing! I had to throw them out. 😢
Hey Patricia! I had a bugger of a time starting my clabber this season (after Emma calved). I tried multiple batches and they either never thickened, or they started smelling off. It finally worked, but I'm not sure why, so I'll just give you a run-down of the things I thought about/tried...
*Scour the jar and lid each time, even if you think it's already clean.
*Move the milk to a warm place (I set mine behind the woodstove).
*Make sure the lid isn't screwed on tight.
*Use the freshest milk possible.
*Once it's thickened, even if it smells/looks not quite right, use it to start a new batch anyway (just label the jar). Sometimes the bad stuff works its way out and over time turns sweet and buttery. (I kept a couple batches going at the same time...)
*Only use a half cup of milk (half of a half pint) while establishing a clabber. There's no need to use more, and a small amount helps prevent frustration when it goes awry.
*If using milk from your own cow, wait a week or two, or try milk from another source. Even though Emma was giving wonderful milk and I was making cheese with it, I wondered if Emma's bacterial count was wonky or something after giving birth (so unscientific, I know!)
*Put the set, but not smelling great, clabber in the fridge and smell it 24 hours later. Does it still smell off? I've noticed that "not great" clabber sometimes smells divine after a rest in the fridge. Not sure what that's about, though....
Good luck!
You’re the most wonderful mentor! Thank you for answering! And thank you for the encouraging answer you gave. I’ll try your suggestions! And I’m still hopeful now. 😁😍
I made a clabber but it seems to have wholes throughout it. I did have the cap loose the didnt fkr a day and it clabbered when i didnt have it loose. I took some and made another, it has wholes. Is that a yeast bubble or something else?
Could be contanination or yeast, but it could also be that the milk is clabbering too quickly. Dial back the amount that you are feeding it (1 part of clabber to 50 parts of milk) and see if that works better? It could also be that your ambient temp is too warm so it's clabbering too quickly....
@@jmilkslingerpls can I clabber my raw cow milk like dis nd use it for yogurt..?
@@sophiazuta3196 It's thinner than yogurt, but lots of people like to drink clabber. Or you could strain it in a bag to make it thicker. The flavor is quite different from yogurt though.
I wonder if it will work with goat milk 🤔
From what I've read: yes!
Are you using cow or goat milk ?
Cow.
This is great, thanks. Totally new to this and started my first clabber the other day. 72 hours later, it's definitely close, but not quite there - it smells good, kind of buttery, but one thing that makes me nervous is that I see these circular areas forming on the surface of the milk. It doesn't look discolored, maybe just beginning of the separation of curds and whey? It's still somewhat liquidy and not quite set. Do you think this is an issue?
Also, does it absolutely have to fully set? I was trying to look closely at your clabber and it seems like it's the consistency of a custard. Does it always happen like that, or do you ever have clabbers that stay slightly more liquidy? I just don't want to mess up and miss the window of opportunity to pop some of that into another jar of milk and get it going.
My clabber usually sets fully, though sometimes it is a little looser, and that's been fine --- it just might take a little longer for the next batch to set up.
Don't worry too much about the clabber going over. As you continue to feed the next number of batches, it will get stronger and begin to clabber more quickly. Over time, any beginning wonkiness should work its way out.
But, if you want to be on the safe side, you can always start a second clabber now! If you have two going simultaneously, then you can compare them against each other and use the one that seems the sweetest/strongest...
Good luck!!
Thanks so much for your reply!! These are good tips in general, and I will definitely save this info, but now I am worried because after looking at it closely, I see a small yellow spot forming and I can't tell if it's mold... May have to toss the whole thing and start all over again, probably with a different source of raw milk since I'm now questioning this source :( @@jmilkslinger
@@sheymanhouse It might be bad but . . . also maybe not? I'd say start a new batch while carrying on with this one, just to see what happens.
Hi Jennifer can I extract butter from my Clabber end how???? thank you
No. But if you culture cream with clabber and then make butter, I think that might work --- you'd get cultured butter... (You can make cheese from clabbered milk, though. Google it.)
thank you very much @@jmilkslinger 🙏
Jennifer does yogurt or clabber give the same result as culture? Which is best yogurt or clabber?
Yogurt is for thermophilic (higher temp cheeses); clabber can culture both meso and thermo cheeses. Both work very well, but I prefer clabber because it's straight cultured milk --- no additives --- which I think is pretty cool. ☺
@@jmilkslinger Jennifer, I tried to make clabber. I kept the Raw Milk in the jar at room temperature (19C) for 3 days. But it didn't harden like yogurt. It remained liquid. Then I found raw milk from another source. But same result. What could be the reason for this? Winter season?
@@elmeddinxelil9621 It could be the cool temps, yes, but it also might take longer --- sometimes it takes 5 days for my milk to develop its first set....
Can you freeze it and bring it out and feed it? I don't make cheese all that often. So I don't want to keep feeding clabber every day just for fun 😂
I'm not sure! I have the same problem --- I mean, I make cheese fairly often, but sometimes I don't make it for a couple weeks in a row.
I know some people refrigerate it and then feed it to get it started again, but when I did that, my clabber never smelled as sweet and buttery. I'm going away this weekend, so I'm going to take some clabber along to maintain the daily feedings AND I'm going to pop some in the fridge and then try to get it going again when I get home. (I know this doesn't answer your question about freezing it, though...)
0:59 translation from cow to English is Moooo!
Actual pronunciation varies..
😂
Now I know why that baking powder brand is called Clabber Girl🤔
My clabber isn't nice and smooth looking, it seems to get tiny holes in it. Every time!
Hmmm. How does it smell. Could it be that you're shaking the milk extra hard in the beginning and getting some air bubbles? What's the ambient temp? Have you tried using it for cheese, and if so, did it work?
I wonder if i can make clabber from store bought raw milk...i guess i could try to find someone with goats here in Oakland that have straight, fresh milk for sale. Sounds like a mission 😊
As long as it's raw, it should work!
I got a quart of "grass milk" that apparently iodine is used in the milking process. I had to brush my teeth. I had the worst taste of iodine in my mouth.
I love you cow.
👍👍😀😀
Is it my imagination, or was the cow and rooster competing? 😮😂
😂
I thought they were talking to each other.
3rd video Ive watched that says 'room temperature"
My room temperature can get up to 98F.
Good point! My room temp varies from 55-92°F. In cooler temps, culturing is slower. In hotter temps, it's faster.
My granny made clabber using dry milk powder.
Seriously?!?! I didn't know you could do that!
I don't have cows I guess you have to use fresh cow's milk not from the store
You have to start clabber with raw milk, but you can maintain it with storebought. . . or at least this is what I've been told. I haven't tried clabber with storebought milk myself.
I'm even more confused😢
Oh no! What are you confused about?
@jmilkslinger so clabber is the thick part, not the liquidity part? Is the liquid only whey or is there another substance in the whey?
@@mrsginny If clabber goes too far, it separates into curd and whey. You want to catch it at its strongest point which is when it is solid but BEFORE it separates. (You can use separated clabber to ferment a new batch of milk -- within a couple generations it should regain its equilibrium -- but not to culture a batch of cheese.)
@jmilkslinger ok, I'm not trying to make cheese, just trying to apply my sour raw milk into my current recipes to use it up. So far I've used the separated cream for sour cream and planning on using the liquid in biscuits and pancakes
This is definitely not A Beginner's Tutorial. You lost me completely about 3 min. in, when you started using terms that were not defined, then "recapped" processes you forgot to film--huh?! Again, as a beginner, interested in learning to make clabber, I have absolutely no idea what to do other than set raw milk aside.
Oh, I hear you! I felt soooo overwhelmed when I started making cheese! It was like learning a whole new language. I was totally lost, but I just stuck with it, taking notes, watching videos, reading and reading and reading, experimenting, and eventually the strange words turned into meaningful concepts. I know this doesn't "solve" anything for you, but I hope it helps to normalize your feelings a little....
That’s all you do. You set milk aside. There is a lot to know but first you set the milk aside. It will clabber if your jar is clean and the good bacteria take over any bad that gets in.
As someone looking to make clabber, I wish this video had actually been informative. I had no idea what you were doing. You were doing steps without saying what you were doing, assuming we would know. You didn't explain or demonstrate removing the clotted cream, I had to assume you were putting a dollop of clabber in a new jar and topping it with pasteurized (?) milk, you didn't talk about sterilizing jars, etc. For me it was just a slap dash slick video for entertainment only.
There's a printable version of the recipe in the description link below the video --- maybe that will help to clarify some things!
Honestly not sure how youre confused but I see that the ingredient list has a price and thats annoying so what it is: you start out with raw unpasteurized milk. Depending how much you want, ut could be less or more as u have to feed just a tablespoon to make the clabber.
Let the fresh milk thicken up on the counter (takes 3-4 business days)
After it thickens, youre gonna use 1 tablespoon of the thickened milk to a jar of your preference to a full jar of milk and shake it up or stir. Cover it (Dont screw the cap too much, allow airflow) and in 24 hours (or one business day) clabber is ready.
As for sterializing the jar, your typical sterializing of food equipment works (hot water and soap)
@@lovellmendez2207 not sure if I understood. After 3-4 days is not ready to eat? Why do I need steps after that?
@@marko-182 so after the 3 days it now has the bacteria needed to clabber. The feeding phases (the addition of milk) is kinda like a cooking phase to make it edible and for a better consistency.